43. PUFFINUS AUDUBONI, Finsch. 



(AUDUBON'S SHEARWATER.) 



Cahow, Smith, Hist. Virginia (1629). 



Puffinus obscurus (nee Gm.), Jones, Nat. Hist. Bermuda, pp. 55, 93 (1859). 



Puffinus auduboni, Finsch, P. Z. S., 1872, p. Ill ; Baird, Brewer and Ridgway, Water 



Birds N. Amer., II., p. 386 (1884) ; A. O. U. Checklist, 2nd ed., p. 32 (1895) ; 



Feilden, Ibis, 1889, pp. 69, 503 ; Lawr., Auk, 1889, p. 19. 

 Puffinus obscurus, pt., Salvin, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXV., p. 382 (1896). 

 Puffinus Therminieri, Lesson ; Riley, Auk, 1902, p. 195 ; A. W. Clark, Pr. Bost. 



Soc. Nat. Hist., XXXH., p. 229 (1905). 



P. obscuro simillimus, sed forsan brunnescentior : axillaribus albis, interdum 

 fuscescenti-nigro subterminaliter notatis : pedibus nigricantibus. 



Although it has been suggested by Mr. H. G. Riley (Auk, 1902, p. 195) that this 

 species should bear the name of P. Vherminieri of Lesson, I think the following diagnosis 

 (Rev. Zool., 1839, p. 102 : — Corpore supra nigro, infra albo, rostro et pedibus nigris. 

 Long. 12 poll. Habitat, ad ripas Antillarum) — too general in character to determine 

 the exact species indicated. It will, therefore, be better to adopt Dr. Finsch's name of 

 P. auduboni, which is properly described and characterised, rather than one which 

 must always remain open to doubt. 



P. auduboni so much resembles P. obscurus that some of the American specimens 

 are scarcely to be distinguished from it, and I separate the two with great hesitation. 

 The characters given by the Hon. Walter Rothschild and Dr. Hartert are : the 

 white under tail-coverts, the paler sides of the chest, the white axillaries, and the 

 white under wing-coverts, which have a less distinct marginal band in P. auduboni 

 than in P. obscurus. My own observation, however, leads me to the conclusion that 

 in P. auduboni we find the same variation in the under tail-coverts, from pure white to 

 blackish-brown, as in P. obscurus. The difference may be sexual, or due to age or season, 

 but no specific differences can be founded on these characters. Nor can the white 

 axillaries be relied upon to distinguish the two species, for in P. obscurus also the 

 axillaries are either pure white, or white with a dusky-grey tip. The marginal band on 



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